FW: [ RadSafe ] Re; Beam me up scotty! There is no INTELLIGENT lifedownhere!

[Dukelow, James S Jr]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dukelow, James S Jr 
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 3:23 PM
To: 'Fritz A. Seiler'
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Re; Beam me up scotty! There is no INTELLIGENT lifedownhere!



Hi Fritz,

You presume that I am stating a political position rather than a technical one.  I have no particular aversion to weapons systems that are likely to work.  You might look at David Parnas' analysis of the software engineering constraints on successful development of Star Wars systems (in Communications of the ACM, v. 28, no. 12, December 1985, pp. 1326-1335, "Software Aspects of Strategic Defense Systems").

I will stipulate that Reagan's embrace of Teller's boondoggle probably contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union (as they spent themselves into bankruptcy).  That benefit behind us, it would be a good idea for us not to follow them into bankruptcy.

Best regards.

Jim Dukelow

-----Original Message-----
From: Fritz A. Seiler [mailto:faseiler at nmia.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 3:03 PM
To: Dukelow, James S Jr; 'Gerry Blackwood'; Efforrer at aol.com; 'Rad Safe'
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Re; Beam me up scotty! There is no INTELLIGENT lifedownhere!


Hi Jim,

You just wrote:

"..... missile expertise, although I tend to question the judgment of
anyone who thinks Star Wars is a good idea ... BUT ..."	

And by that statement you made your own point in inimitable fashion! You may indeed have a hard time thinking outside your selfmade political box!  :-))

Cheers,

Fritz


*****************************************************
Fritz A. Seiler, Ph.D.
Sigma Five Consulting:          Private:
P.O. Box 1709                   P.O. Box 437
Los Lunas, NM 87031             Tomé, NM 87060
Tel.:      505-866-5193         Tel. 505-866-6976
Fax:       505-866-5197         USA
*****************************************************

*****************************************************
"This is the hour when democracy must justify
itself by capacity  for effective decision, or risk
destruction or disintegration. Europe is dotted
with the ruins of right decisions taken too late."

"America's Responsibility in the Current Crisis"
Manifesto of the Christian Realists. May, 1940.
*******************************************************




-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Dukelow, James S Jr
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 3:14 PM
To: Gerry Blackwood; Efforrer at aol.com; Rad Safe
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Re; Beam me up scotty! There is no INTELLIGENT lifedownhere!



Once again the chattering classes of RADSAFE demonstrate their inability to think outside the stereotype.

 there are and have been a number of entertainment types who have demonstrated their high intelligence by figuring out that it is a career where you can make a lot of money.

The 30s and 40s actress Hedy Lamarr and her composer friend George Antheil received a patent in 1942 for a frequency hopping radio control system for torpedos.  About twenty years later, Sylvania picked up the idea and it has become the basis for secure battlefield communication.

Mick Jagger was a student at the London School of Economics when he and Keith Richards started the Rolling Stones.

Kris Kristofferson was a Phi Beta Kappa and a Rhodes Scholar, graduating from Oxford.

John Perry Barlow, a former rancher and former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, became an expert on the effect of computers on society and a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  Since 1998, he has been a Fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.  He is a member of the External Advisory Council of the National Computational Science Alliance.

Best regards.

Jim Dukelow
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA
jim.dukelow at pnl.gov